news flashes

ONE. I see that some of you are already writing off Madrid in the Liga this season, but if you’ve been following this team for a while, you know that they have the capacity to make comebacks, and that Barcelona has stumbled in the past as well. I for one will continue to believe in this team until the end.

Granero: we’re not losing hope with the loss of two points. We have a lot of potential and we can win the Liga.

Arbeloa: it would be crazy to say the Liga is out of reach. They were two important points, because in this competition all points are important, but we’re not going to give up now… we have to try and win everything.

Sergio Ramos: it’s too early to say there’s a winner of the Liga now. Obviously, we’re going to continue fighting for the title.

Kaká: we still have the segunda vuelta ahead of us, and there’s still a lot left to play.

TWO. Data from the primera vuelta show that Cristiano Ronaldo was the most-used player on the squad, and that 14 footballers have played 89% of the minutes in all three competitions.

Cristiano has played 2,526 minutes out of a possible 2,700 (30 games), and is followed by Iker with 2,520 and Marcelo with 2,338. The rest of the 14 are Xabi (2,283), Carvalho (1,927), Di María (1,927), Özil (1,891), Sergio (1,889), Pepe (1,862), Khedira (1,833), Arbeloa (1,661), Higuaín (1,379), Benzema (1,257) and Lass (1,078).

After that, the gap is quite large. The 15th position is filled by Albiol, with 792 minutes. He’s followed by Pedro León (563), Granero (540), Canales (332), Diarra (312), Kaká (156), Adán (135), Garay (107), Gago (101), Mateos (79) and Dudek (45). Three canteranos fill out the rest of the list: Juanfran with 20, Sarabia with 18 and MFC with 16.

THREE. Over in Chicago, Gonzalo Higuaín will meet with Dr. Fessler on Wednesday (the doctor had a fully booked schedule on Tuesday and couldn’t fit Gonzalo in). If he passes the tests, then he can return to Madrid on Thursday. Pipita is feeling much better and has spent the last week resting in the hotel, and taking walks in the morning and afternoon.

FOUR. Other injury news: Jerzy Dudek should be back in practice with the team this week.

FIVE. The Copa del Rey game on Thursday means that Iker’s nomination as a UN goodwill ambassador will once again be delayed. The new date is Jan. 24 in Zürich.

SIX. Speaking of Switzerland, José Mourinho will be named in Geneva this afternoon as an ambassador of deLaCour watches, and he will present the limited edition Mourinho City Ego Collection.

SEVEN. Carles Puyol told Portuguese web site Maisfutebol that he worked with José Mourinho during his first years at Barcelona, and that “he’s a good person and a good coach… the titles he won speak for themselves.”

See that Barcelona fans? A coach, not a translator. Right from the mouth of your very own captain. So get over it.

We are not ‘writing off Madrid’, we are frustrated by the unnecessary experiment of Mou. He should have played it wise. An experienced coach should have known that the his plan B and C are worthless. He should have waited for the new 9 instead of removing Benzema.
Morata might have provided a promising alternative.
Mou is a bit impatient and his desperate attempt to convince the administration that he needs a 9. Thus, caused us 2 valuable points. Valdano has already said: why we bring a new 9, while our 9 is sitting on the bench…

Any way, we love our team and we love our Mou, will keep supporting them forever.

Personally, I think he was “playing it wise”. Like it or not, Benz ain’t working. With Kaka back, there is a question of how and where to play him. Mou needed to experiment and try something new. Logically, bottom-of-the-table Almeria was a good game to use as a testing ground, because a better team would have absolutely slaughtered us. Ultimately, his experiment failed, but hey – he tried. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? And now we know what doesn’t work.

I’m not writing off the season just yet. It just became harder, but by no means impossible. Anyway, Mou always said it would take 2 years. It’s been 6 months. Let’s lay off. How many teams have any of us coached to European glory?

You realize we have exactly one striker in Benzema, and one baby in Morata to fill in the striker role, since Cristiano is more effective on the sides. That’s one underperforming striker and a teenager who lacks experience. Both are under the EXTREME pressure of playing for Real Madrid – the most demanding, impatient club in the world, bar none.

And though we’re looking for a replacement, there’s no guarantee that we’ll get anyone – OR that we’ll get anyone effective.

So what happens if Benzema’s injured? We’re competing on THREE fronts, La Liga, CDR, and CL. We NEED a plan B and possibly a plan C, because football is unpredictable. Just ask Higuain, yeah?

Yeah, it was a failed experiment, but I’m glad he tried it out. Because if its better to know what’s a viable option and what’s not. And who other than the team on the bottom of the league would we try experimenting off?

Una, I’ve not given up. There’s a lot of talent on Madrid and the season is not yet over.

As we’ve found out, one or two key injuries, red cards, etc. make a world of difference on any team, even Madrid & Barca. Also, Barca has been playing phenomenal football but as with any good thing, it comes to an end. In spite of all the tinkering, injuries and red cards that Madrid has had, they are still only 4 pts. behind Barca who has pretty much at “full staff”. That, in itself says a lot for our guys & Mou!

Good news about Pipita & Dudek. I just hope that Pipita has been taking his walks inside the past couple of days. Lots of ice on the streets & sidewalks here now.

I’m totally with you, Una! despite my disappointment on their last performance, I personally believe that these guys will work even harder and they really could win this season.. I hope they’ll improve in the upcoming weeks.. come on, mr.Mou!! we have faith in you!! 😀

Preach! 🙂 There are stupid offensive culers out there, and there are stupid offensive madridistas too, and let’s face it, there are probably stupid offensive supporters of every team in the universe too. But there are also sensible respectful ones! And not every Barcelona fan believes that Mourinho is siempre traductor.

Besides, the people who matter at Barcelona (the coach, the captains, and pretty much all the other players too) are class acts, as this just goes to show. 🙂 Mourinho, whether or not you are personally a fan of his aesthetic, has been a very successful manager, and the results speak for themselves.

Una, I believe in this team no matter what. I’m just being realistic about our situation. For me, it’s better to be positively surprised than to wait for a miracle that never comes. My hope is never lost, though. 🙂
Of course that the players and Mou said that not all hope is lost. What were they supposed to say? That we have lost already and that they’re not gonna play? Even if they personally think so nobody would allow them to make such statements to the press.
I’m very happy that Gonzalo is ok and I wish him a safe trip back to MAD. I’m also glad that Jurek Dudek is getting better and I hope to see him training this week.
“Mourinho City Ego Collection” – wow, may I have one of those? 😀
“See that Barcelona fans? A coach, not a translator. Right from the mouth of your very own captain. So get over it.” – yes Una!! a huge like under that comment 😀

I have not lost the faith either – although admittedly it is tempered with a bit of reality as well 🙂 Barcelona does look very good right now but Una you are right there are still a lot of games to play – many things can happen – who would have predicted the Barca loss to Hercules?? and there is also the Champions league.

Mou is advertising a product with the word “ego” in it ? – go figure. Thanks for the Pipita update – I was watching the football (NFL) game in Chicago on the week end and wondered if he was still there. It looked miserable there. here is to a speedy recovery.

Haha oh my God I thought it said “even the players said hope is lost” and my heart sank so much. Then I re-read it. I’m going to join you in thinking positively. Dropping points is disappointing but we’re about to have the chance to improve against every team we didn’t do so well against in the first half of the season. I’m confident and I’ll enjoy watching the team play no matter what. As my dad always says, “It’s not over ’til it’s over.”

I love Puyi… the rest of his team should aspire to his level of class.